Getting stood up is the worst. No one enjoys arriving at the restaurant just to receive a call from the supposed date who can’t make it because of a gold fish that needed veterinary care. But essentially, patient no-shows are the physician’s equivalent to getting stood up. Except instead of simply wasting time, no-shows cost your practice money.
Some estimate that patient no-shows cost individual physicians as much as $150,000 per year. Figures like this show why it’s essential to do all you can to reduce no-shows.
But there are certain things you don’t want to do when trying to decrease patient no-shows. Going about it the wrong way can waste time, or even worse, damage relationships with your patients.
Don’t
Disregard patient convenience: Start by asking patients when they would like to come in, rather than assigning them the first available slot. A study from the University of Missouri showed this controls as much as 1/3 of the probability of patients showing up.
Allow long appointment delays: Sometimes it’s all the patient’s or practice’s schedule permits, but increasing the time between appointment setting and appointment date increases the chance of no-shows.
Rely only on reminder phone calls: Nowadays, many patients prefer being reminded through text or email. A good practice management system will automatically send reminders using these methods.
Send reminders using every method imaginable: Ask each patient for primary and secondary contact information, and stick to using those.
Waste money on post-card appointment reminders: A University of Kansas study found that these snail mail reminders have little effect on improving patient appointment-keeping behavior.
Overbook appointments: Long office wait times were viewed by patients as a sign of disrespect that led to patient no-shows according to a qualitative study out of the University of Nebraska.
Have a flimsy no-show policy: The policy should be documented and displayed in a place highly visible to patients. It should detail the consequences of not showing up for appointments and eliminate wiggle-room for chronic no-showers.
Go crazy with no-show fees: Allow patients a couple of warnings before incurring a fee. Also, don’t make the fee exorbitant. It’s a good way to send patients to the closest competing provider organization.
Take transportation for granted: This is particularly relevant if many of your patients use public transportation. Scheduling appointments for these patients when the route to your practice isn’t running is basically asking for a no-show.
Follow-up without a purpose: When following up, ask patients why they missed their appointments, then document the reasons. This allows you to spot general trends in no-shows that could possibly be fixed.
Fail to show appreciation to ‘do-shows’: For those that do show up when scheduled, tell them how much you appreciate it. This encourages them to continue showing up to their appointments.
Decreasing patient no-shows can be tricky at times, but avoiding these slipups will propel you toward that goal.
Searching for more practice management tips? Check out our Complete Guide to Practice Management.
